COLORADO SPRINGS — Months of controversy surrounding outgoing El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa didn’t seem to faze his replacement Wednesday. “I don’t feel any pressure at all,” Bill Elder said after he was sworn in as interim sheriff by Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez of the 4th Judicial District.
Everything that’s happened up until now — the accusations against Maketa over sexual improprieties with employees and creating a hostile work environment — doesn’t affect him or his command staff, he said. But his first task will be “winning back the hearts and minds” of employees, who need to “get back to doing the business of law enforcement,” he said.
Elder’s term doesn’t start officially until he’s sworn in Jan. 13, but county commissioners appointed him interim sheriff in the wake of Maketa’s early retirement. Maketa announced Dec. 18 that he would be retiring Dec. 31, two weeks before his third term was set to expire.
Because Jan. 1 is a holiday, the swearing-in ceremony for Elder took place Wednesday. But his official stint as interim sheriff won’t take effect until 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
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